Page 101 of Yours, Finally

The redundant message was highlighted by the bold colors and font work, covering most of my torso.

He took a long look. His sudden laughter had a few faces turning our way.

I grinned and buttoned up my blouse, hiding my small encouragement gift.

"I fuckingadoreyou, Violeta."

"It's going to go well, you'll see."

"Thank you."

"Well, well, well." Lina's voice made me jump. "I haven't seen you since I learned about you two, Jake."

He hid a wince as he accepted Lina's kiss on the cheek. "Hello to you too, Lina."

"My gut told me I'd find you here if I made it a little early."

I gazed around. "You came alone?"

"Gabe is arriving on his own in a little bit. He's on his way, though."

"You want to talk, don't you?" Jake leaned back on his high chair. "You haven't had a chance to give me a piece of your mind."

Lina sat on the chair in front of Jake. "What makes you think I want to give you a piece of my mind?"

I smirked and sat next to Jake, half-curious for what Lina was up to, half-prepared to argue.

She studied Jake, then me. "The party is next week."

I nodded. The next six days were packed for us; between the final preparations for the party, making sure all guests flying in were taken care of, having to make time to spend with the family visiting for the occasion, and having my mentorship luncheon only thirty hours away on Sunday, the open mic night was our last real chance to simply spend some time together to relax.

Jake and I exchanged glances.

Lina's mouth pressed into a serious line. "When are you going to tell people that you're together?"

Jake crossed his arms. The gesture somehow made him look bigger.

People exclaimed in excitement at a table nearby, cheering for reasons we would never know. The karaoke bar staff milled about the stage, preparing the set up for the activities supposed to start some time later.

Jake stared at Lina and licked his bottom lip. "Have you told Gabe?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "But it's hard to keep this private for you two. Gabe has asked me twice what's on my mind and I don't know how long I can go without worrying him about this thing he knows I'm not sharing. And what are you going to do at the party? Everyone happy and celebrating and you two standing at opposite ends of the room?"

"I told you, Lina." I crossed my legs under the table. "We wanted to wait a bit longer."

"Are you going to break up?" she asked.

Jake frowned. "No. Of course not."

"Not planning to, no," I added. "In fact, we made it official."

"You haven't asked for advice, but I'm going to give it anyway," Lina said. "You can't keep waiting. The next person that finds out could not react as graciously as I have."

"Which is exactly what we're worried about." Jake's voice lowered, but it kept its serious tone. "Don't you see?"

I squirmed in my seat. It was the same argument I had made to Jake. I had also told him we'd wait a bit longer… but how long was too long?

At what point were we making choices we knew could hurt us, not caring enough to do things right?